Manisha Vakil, Nareshbhai Patel likely to take oath as Gujarat ministers; Nitin Patel not on list

Twenty seven Gujarat MLAs including Nareshbhai Patel, Harsh Sanghvi, Manisha Vakil and Arvind Raiyani are likely to be inducted in the Bhupendra Patel cabinet. The names of ten MLAs surfaced ahead of the oath-taking ceremony on Thursday.

The ten MLAs who received a call in the morning, inviting them to the oath-taking ceremony are:

1. Gandevi MLA Nareshbhai Patel
2. Surat-Majura MLA Harsh Sanghvi
3. Limbdi MLA Kiritsinh Jitubha Rana
4. Morbi MLA Brijesh Merja
5. Rajkot East MLA Arvind Raiyani
6. Visnagar MLA Rishikesh Patel
7. Olpad MLA Mukesh Patel
8. Sitarampur MLA Kuberbhai Dindor
9. Kaprada MLA Jitu Choudhary
10. Vadodara MLA Manisha Vakil.

The new cabinet of Gujarat’s Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel will be sworn in on Thursday. Gujarat CMO confirmed in a tweet on Wednesday that the swearing-in of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel’s new cabinet will be held at 1.30 pm at Raj Bhavan in Gandhinagar on September 16.

The swearing-in ceremony of the new cabinet of CM Shri @Bhupendrapbjp will take place tomorrow, September 16, 2021 at 1.30 pm at Raj Bhavan, Gandhinagar. pic.twitter.com/86PJIWP1vd

— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) September 15, 2021

Bhupendra Patel, a first-time BJP MLA from Ghatlodia constituency, was chosen as Vijay Rupani’s successor earlier this week. He took oath as Gujarat’s 17th chief minister on Monday.

Sources also told India Today that a total of 27 MLAs will take oath as cabinet members on Thursday. The new cabinet will comprise of all new faces, which is why the party is trying to pacify those who are not happy with the reshuffle, sources in the BJP said.

Three tribal MLAs — Naresh Patel, Kuberbhai Dindor and Jitu Choudhary — have already bagged a place in the Gujarat cabinet, sources said.

Sources also said Deputy Chief Minister Nitin Patel and Education Minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama could be dropped in the first reshuffle of the Gujarat cabinet under Bhupendra Patel.